


Thank You

by Gabriel_Sage



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Dead L (Death Note), Euthanasia, Friendship, Heart Attacks, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-22 18:39:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11973315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gabriel_Sage/pseuds/Gabriel_Sage
Summary: There was a reason L ate so much sugar without ever gaining weight, and having a fast metabolism was only half of the truth.





	Thank You

     Light couldn't help but notice that throughout the entire Kira investigation, Ryuzaki ate far more sweets than the average person but still didn't gain weight. In fact, the more time that passed, the thinner he became until the cuff on his wrist eventually had to be tightened; despite eating ever-increasing amounts of sweets until he was practically constantly consuming some sort of sugary snack.

     Sometimes, Light saw Ryuzaki wince and clutch his stomach for no reason at all, and whenever he asked after his health, Ryuzaki always nodded and waved off his concern with an "I'm fine, I’m fine." Light wasn't fully convinced. Ryuzaki also disappeared once a week for a few hours, and would leave him chained to either Matsuda or Aizawa. He always looked drained afterwards. All in all, very suspicious, but he had no idea what could be wrong with the detective. 

* * *

     Soon enough, Light had his memories back, and no longer needed to be chained up. However, eleven days after Higuchi’s apprehension and subsequent death, Light noticed that L had never returned from his weekly disappearance, and he set out to search for the wayward detective. 

     L wasn't in his rooms. 

     L wasn't in the kitchen. 

     The third place Light looked was the roof, the one place that Light never could understand why L would drag the pair of them to, as he just stared off into nothingness. Sure enough, L was out there. In the driving rain. 

* * *

     The pair of them were soaked when they reentered the building, and as the gloomy light cascaded over the duo, Light suddenly realized that not all the water on L’s face was dripping from his hair; some of it was originating from his eyes. 

     "That was-" And suddenly L moaned with pain, falling to his knees and wrapping his arms around his stomach, resting his forehead on the wondrously cool floor.

     "Ryuzaki…"

      "Lawliet. L. Lawliet." L groaned, and Light blinked in shock.

      "Is that…"

      "Yes, it is. I'm already going to die within two months, at least a heart attack would be relatively painless in contrast!" Light kneeled next to him.

      "What do you mean?" Light questioned, placing a comforting hand on L’s shoulder. L didn't respond immediately, instead focusing on getting his head off the ground, then looking into his eyes. Despite himself, Light was worried about the pained look on L’s face. He usually didn't show emotion in the best of times; if he was displaying it now, it had to be pretty awful.

     "I've had a terminal illness since I was eight years old, Light-kun. It's been slowly killing me, sucking all the carbohydrates out of my body, whether it be via my stomach, my tissues, or my blood." L clutched more tightly at his stomach as it gave another wrenching stab. "I've had to increase my sugar intake until it eventually got to a point where I could eat nothing else but sweets three years ago. This-" he slowly and reluctantly released his torso and raised his arms to show just how emaciated he was, how his clothes hung off him. "This is the fruit of my disease. Unfortunately-" L gritted his teeth and wrapped his arms back around his pained stomach.

     "Unfortunately for me, it has finally progressed to a point where it is going to rapidly kill me from here because I can no longer possibly eat enough sugar to offset it, as it would surpass the lethal dose of sugar. And there is no cure. I will be dead before the new year, suffering every moment as I struggle to breathe through the pain before my body and mind fail on me." L shuddered.

     "Sitting and helplessly feeling my mind deteriorate is a horror beyond my imagining; personally, I don't want to live through that. I simply ask that you kill me before that happens. There is no need to deny you are Kira. To tell the truth, you are my only friend, and I just hope the feelings are, in at least some way, reciprocated." L looked away, grimacing as his stomach area created another stab of pain. Light stared at the frail form before him in shock. L was going to die either way? This turn of events didn't possess the glow of triumph that L falling for the thirteen-day rule would have had, but it was a nice feeling nonetheless, that L had bowed to him in the end, albeit for different reasons than his superiority. So with that, he made his decision, already knowing that L wasn't bluffing. 

     "I’ll do it." Light stated those three words, and he had to say, he had never had someone look upon him with so much awe and happiness.

* * *

     Light lunged, managing to intercept L’s toppling form just before it struck the ground. He would respect his last wishes, for a painless death. Were he to strike the ground in his emaciated state, he would undoubtedly break something. There was a smile in L’s eyes and face when he died, and Light just barely managed to hear the last words breathed out.

     "Thank you."


End file.
